Brian's apartment as seen from the Gornergrat train on the other side of the valley (significantly zoomed in here).
Zermatt is all about the Matterhorn - probably one of the most famous mountains in the world. Even people that don't know its name recognize it as one of the classic "alps pictures". I purchased a new carryon bag a few weeks before our trip that was made in Switzerland. The Matterhorn was on the side of the box. *** Even though I had seen it many times before in pictures, especially in preparation for this trip, seeing it first hand was still really amazing. From the summit (which we obviously did not climb to) you can see 33 peaks over 4000 meters/13120 ft.
The train up to Gornergrat starts off by going through the heavily forested valley walls just above Zermatt. It then opens up as the elevation increases and has many sweeping vistas of the surrounding mountains and Zermatt valley. We wound up going up 3 different times as it was a nice relaxing scenic trip after a long day. The terrain is so steep that the train uses a cog railway where a gear beneath the locomotive engages with a toothed rack between the tracks. According to the Michelin green guide this is the highest open-air railway in Europe.
